Friday's Final Furlong at Doncaster Racecourse

The Premier Suite at Doncaster Racecourse provided a sensational venue for this year’s Doncaster Book Award Finale event on Friday 26th March.

The wonderful setting, and stunning views, only added to the excitement already apparent among the over 450 young people gathered together for the winner announcement. As part of a packed programme, we were fortunate to have two of our shortlisted authors speaking and signing books, J. A. (Jan) Henderson and Gervase Phinn, as well as school presentations, and the winner announcements for our Creative Writing, Best Review and Slogan competitions. Back by popular demand too was ‘Lollipop Man’ himself, Phil Sheppard, who had brought the house down at our launch in October. Phil’s school had created the amazing artwork ‘Bookie’ the horse, and his jockey ‘Frankie De Story’ and he had written a special poem which he premiered live for us on stage in the afternoon.

Our Chair, Lesley Hurworth, took to the stage and got us all under starter’s orders, welcoming our distinguished guests, Mayor Davies, local author Mr Lloyd Darvill, and our Deputy Civic Mayor and Mayoress, Councillor Farrell and Councillor Pinkney. Dave Cryer then stepped up to the mike as Host, to introduce Y6 from Saltersgate Junior School, with the first of the drama presentations. Next up, children from St Peter’s Primary showed us their impressive detective skills, with their Crime Reports from the ‘Murder in the Library’ event held at their school earlier this year.

After the first presentations, Jan Henderson gave the first author talk. Jan’s book Colony is an action-packed thriller, full of plot twists, that keeps the reader completely hooked. Jan proved to be as entertaining a speaker as he is a writer, and soon had the audience in stitches with his very funny tales of his time working on a conveyor belt in a fruit factory, a time when he developed his first story ideas. So much so, that in the lively question and answer session which followed, one student wanted to know when he had learnt to be a comedian!

Phil Sheppard was next on stage, and he spoke first about how his class had created their sculpture, with all the people in the stands behind Bookie as hand drawn book characters, a nice touch! He then treated us to a rendition of his poem explaining how Bookie won his Race, a copy of which can be seen on this website. Phil was followed by students from Danum School, with their debate (in rhyme again!) cleverly featuring characters from the shortlist books. The Competition winners were then announced. Paul from Waterstones very kindly judged the review competition, and the winner was Daniel from Armthorpe School. Abbie from Mexborough School won the best secondary creative writing competition, with her brilliant exploration of the mind of Will from ‘Bloodchild’. The best primary entry came from Holly, a student from Tranmoor School, with a piece about Nick’s thoughts following his visit to ‘Bargins’ in ‘The Soul Trade’. Our slogan competition was judged by Sandra Heath from the public libraries’ Reader Development Team. She chose ‘Read It, Love It, DBA It!’, from Matthew, a Y6 student from Hatchell Wood Primary.

Next on stage was our second author, Gervase Phinn. Gervase is always an entertaining speaker, and once again he didn’t disappoint. A Bit of a Hero, his short-listed book, tells of a boy, Will, who, already suffering from the loss of his father, is now being bullied at school. Gervase talked of how bullying was an issue he felt very strongly about, and how this had inspired him to write and publish this story, which is a departure from his usual humorous style. It certainly touched many of the young readers, and once again we had a lively question and answer session which, had timings permitted, could have lasted much longer than it did.

At last the time had come! Lesley was back on stage with the golden envelope. A hushed silence ensued, and when she announced Colony as this year’s winner, the audience showed their approval. Jan’s face was a picture, he was genuinely amazed! When we booked our authors, this year, we had no idea what would be on the shortlist, let alone the winner, so it was a happy coincidence! The race for the winner this year was definitely a thriller, with several of the short list neck and neck throughout the count. Only towards the end was it clear that Colony was the overall favourite. The audience at the Racecourse were clearly very pleased at the outcome.

It only remained to announce the winners of the best presentation, decided upon by an independent adjudicator. Saltersgate Junior won the best primary, and Danum the best secondary. Sadly, we also then said goodbye to the fabulous Sally Dring, a stalwart of our committee since the beginning, and a tireless worker who will be very much missed.

More events are planned, including our summer ‘dragonology’ workshops with author Debi Evans, and we are already starting to plan for next year’s award. So get into your local public libraries and get reading, so we have a fab new long list to work with.

See you next year!
Lyn Hopson, Secretary, Doncaster Book Award

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